The pictures you can see now, I think, shows the human race at the top of its knowledge and intelligence, even though we’re less than nothing compared to the universe as a whole. As a human being (no I’m not a pigeon), I feel pretty impressed when I view […] Continue Reading…

There really is two types of observations, two types of amateur astronomers: those who take pictures of objects they like, and others that stick to regular eye observation. Both are very distinct actually, because it’s not the same feeling you get.

Personally, I’m part of the second category. Even though […] Continue Reading…

The Cocoon Nebula, also known as IC 5146 or Barnard 168, is a 4000 light-year distant emission nebula: it’s a stellar nursery. The nebula was first discovered in 1899, and was described as similar to the Triffid Nebula, (Messier 20 in Sagittarius). It is remarkable because there is an […] Continue Reading…

Its famous in astronomy. A telescope on the ground will never be able to achieve the same results than the same one in space. Why? Because of the atmosphere. The atmosphere has always been astronomers’ worst enemy, for several reasons:

Turbulances
Shifts in Temperature
It blocks certain wavelengths (Ultraviolet), which are valuable […] Continue Reading…

Hyperion is one of the many moons of Saturn. The Cassini mission revealed it in great detail when approaching Saturn in 2005. Composed mainly of ice, the moon orbits Saturn in approximately 21 days.

The moon is named after a Greek Titan (a greek god). The Mossy aspect of […] Continue Reading…

This 1000 light-year distant Nebula, IC 2118, lies next to the blue super giant Rigel, in Constellation Eridan, right next to Orion, which means it is visible in winter at our northern latitudes. It is a very very big nebula, spanning on 3 square degrees in the sky, which […] Continue Reading…

A new buzz in the astronosphere. In the night between October 23 and 24, comet P/17 Holmes, a small little comet of magnitude 17, suddenly became extremely bright, multiplying its brightness by a factor of 1 million! The comet now has a magnitude of 2.7 . The causes are […] Continue Reading…

Why do some stars burst to create fulgurant flashes of light and cause the emission of huge quantities of enery? That depends on the star’s mass: a massive star will live for a rather short period of time, such as several millions of years, which really are a trice […] Continue Reading…